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The GILBERT & SULLIVAN

MAY 2009 NEWSLETTER SOCIETY OF AUSTIN

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Orchestra—the GLOO that has raised our productions to truly by Libby Weed professional levels. Since the early 1990s, I have grown increasingly fond of the Our Society said goodbye to one of its Gillmans for many reasons. Their mastery of everything related to most noteworthy members at the passing G&S, their wonderful musicality, their Gilbertian wit, their of Dr. Leonard Gillman on Tuesday, willingness to work hard on something they believed in, and their April 7. Len and his wife Reba (who is warmth and friendliness all drew me to them. It also became still an active member of the Board) have abundantly clear to me that they loved each other very deeply and been inspirations and guiding lights to had been rare soul mates for each other for seven decades. No Austin G&S since 1978. “conjugal fetters” for these two; they were felicitously Leonard Gillman served as a professor at Purdue matrimonified! University, the , and finally the University When our Society celebrated its 30 th anniversary in 2006, we of Texas, leading the mathematics departments at the latter two honored several laureates who had significantly influenced the institutions. He also served as President of the Mathematical growth and development of Austin G&S. The last two honored Association of America and published many notable articles and were Leonard and Reba Gillman, and we remarked at that time books; it was as a distinguished that he was that no two people symbolized so well for Austin the splendors of internationally known. Gilbert & Sullivan as Len and Reba. They received their But there was another side to Leonard Gillman. As a lad, he certificates and acclaim just shortly before celebrating their 90 th showed precocity as a pianist. He won a fellowship to the Juilliard birthdays and their 68 th wedding anniversary. Graduate School of Music, from which he graduated with a Now we say farewell to one-half of the First Couple of the Austin diploma in piano; a few years later he completed a degree in Gilbert & Sullivan Society, extending our sympathy to Reba, mathematics from . Jonathan and Miki, and their families. Leonard Gillman will long Len pursued both interests—mathematics and music—all his life. be remembered in our Society. He lives on in the keen influence While serving as a professor and doing research in at of Reba, the momentous contributions of the orchestra they Purdue and Rochester, he performed as a classical pianist with a founded, and our cherished memories of his wisecracks, his symphony orchestra and also at Joint Mathematics Meetings. He music, and his whimsical presence. was a Savoyard long before coming to Austin, delighting when his lovely wife Reba starred as Phyllis in Iolanthe with an Indiana Libby Weed light opera troupe and Josephine in HMS Pinafore with the Princeton Savoyards. In 1978 Len and Reba were in Austin and Len volunteered his services as a pianist for the auditions for Iolanthe . At one point, the director looked at him and said, “You look like the Lord Chancellor; I want you to audition.” And so it happened that, despite his protests that he “couldn’t sing his way out of a paper bag,” Leonard Gillman played that signal role for our Society’s first production of Iolanthe . In ensuing years he was music director for Trial by Jury (1982) and The Gondoliers (1983). Over the years since then, Len has entertained us often at musicales with piano selections ranging from Tom Lehrer to Bach, Schubert, and Rachmaninoff. He and Reba were fixtures on the front row of almost every show, and for several years they hosted a cast party at the end of each production in their lovely Westlake home. Leonard and Reba took an early interest in raising the level of instrumental accompaniment of the Austin G&S shows. Early Leonard Gillman as the Lord Chancellor and Reba Gillman as a productions were accompanied by a lone pianist, but for the 1978 fairy in the Society’s 1978 production of Iolanthe . Iolanthe , Len knew that the fanfare of brasses required, at the very least, a trumpet. So he recruited instrumentalists, and that Save the Date! show became the first with a limited orchestra. Over the years, Please watch for news of the Society’s season-opening Len and Reba have used their influence and contributed their Fall Musicale on September 14. resources to create what is now the Gillman Light Opera 1

Patricia Kaplan by Reba Gillman toothless and showing many other signs of deterioration. Ms. Murphy’s commanding performance summoned up the scene for On Tuesday, March 24 th , all of us, and let us know that Pat was truly a performer, too. On more than 50 people attended this hilarious note we ended the afternoon, and went home the memorial wake in honor of invigorated by our recollections of a wonderful person and the Pat Kaplan , held in the library chance to meet so many of her interesting friends. of the Metz Elementary School in East Austin. Blogging for Gilbert and Sullivan Everyone present loved Pat, by Ingrid Yaple and didn’t know nearly as much about her diverse As a new board member, I found myself on both the fundraising interests as they believed they and publicity committees. I realized how much work all the board did -- G&S Society included. I members put into the Society. The months leading up to our was pleased to realize how summer production (this year Iolanthe ) are always the busiest for much Pat had loved Gilbert the publicity people. I am learning a lot working with David and Sullivan, and how much Little , who’s a PR man through and through. she had enjoyed being part of Patricia Kaplan As my contribution to spreading the word of our organization, I our activities. started up a blog (separate from the website), a Twitter account The library was a pleasant large room, with many round tables and a Facebook account. Knowing as a blogger how viral news and chairs so all could be seated, and a delicious spread of and connections can become, I figured it was time to join other munchies (à la G&S) on tables at the side of the room. The Metz Gilbert and Sullivan societies who are using some of these tools to teachers seemed to be present in full force, and the informal have more of an online presence. If you are online, please follow program was supervised by Don Bos , the current librarian. Other “TheSavoyard” on Twitter (note the capitalization), visit “The groups present included librarians from other schools and Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Austin” on Facebook, and visit members of the AAUW. Allan Longacre served as Official our blog at http://www.thesavoyard.blogspot.com . I hope our Representative of the G&S Society, supported by Reba Gillman , members can join me! Nancy Jay , June Julian , Nancy McQueen , Jean Smootz , and Monica Kurtz . Monica has been our stage manager for several NEWS of our MEMBERS years, and her attendance was a reminder that Pat’s cheerful, GSSA Artistic Director Ralph MacPhail, Jr. participated in a post helpful presence had inspired the cast and crew backstage, as well -performance feedback session for Iolanthe , which was presented as the volunteers who worked with Pat in the lobby selling DVDs over two weekends in April by Eastern Mennonite University and T-shirts. Theatre in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Pat’s daughter, Ruth Kaplan , welcomed us and said she had been GSSA artist soprano Christiana Little recently learning many things she had never known about her mother. She performed the leading role of "Lucy Lockit" in had found a poetic parody of “When I was a lad” from H.M.S. Benjamin Britten's The Beggar's Opera at the Pinafore , written by Pat: “When I was a lass, I broke my back As Manhattan School of Music in a lowly page in a college stack.” Ruth gave Allan a copy of the in early April. Christiana highlighted her 2005 poem, and he explained a little about these two Englishmen who GSSA performance as "Yum-Yum" in The had written many popular comic operas in the nineteenth Mikado in her biography under "favorite century. Asking us, his back-up team, to come in as chorus on the roles," along with "Cinderella" in Into the refrain after each verse, he gallantly sang through the entire five Woods , which she performed at the Manhattan verses. Enthusiastic but unrehearsed, I’m afraid our performance School in 2007. On April 10, Christiana presented her senior was not a good example of the excellence of our productions. graduation recital, including works by Mozart, Alban Berg, Erik However, the audience responded with delight. Satie, Charles Ives, Ned Rorem, Benjamin Britten, several young Many people told of their experiences with Pat, who had been composers, and one piece that Christiana wrote herself. always cheerful, always helpful, quietly efficient, and an energetic Christiana graduates this May with her Bachelor's degree in vocal force to be reckoned with. She came in as a volunteer bringing performance. She will continue to study privately in New York, special things -- books, jokes, and wonderful joy. Librarians who and plans to audition for graduate school in the next few years. dealt always with children appreciated that she spoke to them as Christiana sends her warmest wishes to the GSSA community adults and broadened their lives. I learned of her involvement and thanks them for their ongoing encouragement! with projects I also was interested in, and I sorrowed that I had never discovered these overlapping connections, and now would Gina Ducloux , a longtime member of our Society and a never be able to talk with her about them. For me, the high spot luminary of the Austin music community, died on April 15, of the entire afternoon was the contribution of Ruth Murphy , a 2009, in Newport Beach, California. She and her late husband, librarian who came over from San Antonio to tell us about her Walter Ducloux, founded the Austin Lyric Opera and worked experiences working with Pat in a San Antonio public library. She tirelessly for many years to advance both symphony and opera acted out how she and Pat had read dramatically to the children offerings in Central Texas. A remarkable voice teacher and some time ago, with props Pat supplied to support the action (a vocal coach, Gina introduced several of her best pupils to colorful cap, a few false teeth, a fiery red wig). The book was Austin G&S, including the incomparable Cynthia Hill, Elsie in Raymond Briggs’s Jim and the Beanstalk , a sequel to Jack and the our 1997 Yeomen of the Guard and the title character in our Beanstalk . It tells how Jim, the grandson of Jack, climbed the 1999 Patience . An Austin memorial and celebration of Gina same beanstalk and met up with the aging giant, now bald and Ducloux’s life will be held at a future date. 2

Question: What’s So Great About Iolanthe ? Answer: Everything! In 1882, Gilbert & Sullivan were at the height of their powers. After a rather shaky start in 1871, Richard D’Oyly Carte united the librettist and composer for their first great hit, Trial by Jury . Its success led to the formation of a company expressly for production of English light opera, and ultimately the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. The Sorcerer was the first. This led to H.M.S. Pinafore and international fame. The Pirates of Penzance followed, and then came Patience . During the original run of this “Aesthetic Opera,” D’Oyly Carte completed the Savoy Theatre, and it was there that Iolanthe opened, making it, literally, the first “Savoy opera.” It’s hard to fault either librettist or composer for any shortcomings when thinking of Iolanthe . Gilbert’s metrical challenges for Sullivan’s settings were becoming more complex, and the composer invariably met them. But G also provided S with the musical opportunities he craved: compare “dainty little fairy” music with that rousing March of the Peers—or the high- spirits of so much of the score with the moving appeal by Iolanthe to the Lord Chancellor at the end. The Act One finale is arguably the best in the entire series, and Sullivan even composed the overture himself, something he usually delegated to an associate. One of the great appeals of Gilbert & Sullivan for me is its very “Englishness,” and Iolanthe is as English as Savoy opera gets. And, as usual with G&S, the humor still works beautifully across the pond and across the years. But don’t take my word for it. Join us at Travis High School in June to see and hear for yourself! -- Ralph MacPhail, Jr.

Place an Ad in the Iolanthe Playbill Ads are now being taken for the playbill. To see ad templates and pricing, go to www.gilbertsullivan.org and click on Summer Sign Up for Our Email Newsletter! Production. The deadline is May 15. To place an ad, contact Just visit www.gilbertsullivan.org and click on “Join The Mailing Michael Borysow at (512) 586-1392. List” to receive emails telling you about upcoming events,.

MEMBERSHIP FORM We encourage you to join our Society. If you are a member, please check your membership renewal on the top of the mailing label. If expired or near expiration, your membership needs to be updated! To correct your address, renew your membership, or become a member, complete this form, and mail it to us with your check, payable to “GSSA”, or call to join (512) 472-4772 (GSSA).

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The Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin The Society holds nonprofit status under 501(c)(3) of the IRS code. Since 1976, we have been spreading the joys of G&S through Artistic Director Ralph MacPhail, Jr. Annual Grand Productions Music Director Jeffrey Jones-Ragona Educational/Community Outreach Musicales Board of Directors Musical Scholarships Libby Weed President Newsletters Allan Longacre Executive Vice President Kathryn Saar Secretary Holiday Season Shows Dave Wieckowski Treasurer G&S Office: 6901 Lamar Blvd., #139, Austin, TX 78752 Reba Gillman Historian Mailing Address: P. O. Box 684542, Austin, TX 78768-4542 June Julian Membership Phone: (512) 472-4772 (GSA-GSSA) David Little Publicity Our web site: www.gilbertsullivan.org Byron Arnason E-mail: [email protected] Chris Buggé This project is funded and supported in part by Stephen Reynolds the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Ingrid Yaple Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and an award from the Database Manager Arthur DiBianca National Endowment for the Arts which Newsletter Editor Sue Ricket Caldwell believes that a great nation deserves great art.

MAY MUSICALE Come see a staged reading of John Maddison Morton’s 1847 hilarious farce, Box and Cox Featuring: Ralph MacPhail, Jr. , as Mr. Box Libby Weed as Mrs. Bouncer Allan Longacre (stage director) as Mr. Cox Genesis Presbyterian Church 1507 Wilshire Blvd. Wand’ Minstrels The Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin’s Wand’ring Monday, May 11, 2009 at 7:30 pm Minstrels are the ambassadors for the Society to the Central Please Bring Munchies! Texas community. Their programs provide an introduction to the genre that is distinctively Gilbert & Sullivan. Programs Following the performance, Rafe MacPhail will range from a lively recital of Gilbert & Sullivan’s most explain, with musical examples, how the play was popular tunes to interactive, mini-productions of the adapted by F. C. Burnand and Arthur Sullivan from Society’s full summer productions. For bookings or comedic drama into musical theatre as Cox and Box . additional information, please contact Eva Laskaris by email at [email protected] , or at (512) 350-4935.

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